The Portiuncula, located in the Diocese of Steubenville, is home to the Franciscan Lay Apostolate. We are humbly committed to imitating the Gospel life of Christ, and observing the Sacraments. Placing ourselves under strict and holy obedience to Bishop Jeffrey Monforton of Steubenville, and the Magisterium, we follow the Medieval Penitential First Rule of the Third Order of St. Francis, dated 1221 A.D. Our mission is to preach Repentance and Penance to all God's people.

About Me

Servant General of the F.L.A. (Franciscan Lay Apostolate); Hermitage Scullion; Former Radio Talk Show Host; Writer; Public Speaker; Former Staff Member of United States Senator Dan Coats; Retired Infantry Major: served with U.S. Army Intelligence in Vietnam and Europe; Wife: Karen (married 42 years), 5 children, 8 grandchildren ...
To request your special intentions to be offered up before our Eucharistic Lord in intercessory prayer, please e-mail your Prayer Intentions to the Portiuncula Hermitage at: hermitage@parallax.ws

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The first time I saw U.S. Senator Connie Mack was several years ago at a Catholic Men's Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Connie witnessed to over 8,000 men how then Senator Dan Coats, a Presbyterian, was holding weekly Bible Studies in the basement of the Senate Building. It was at one of the Bible Studies that Dan Coats led Connie Mack into a “born again” experience and back to his Roman Catholic faith.

A couple years later, when Dan and Marsha Coats left Germany as our American Ambassador, I spoke to Connie on the phone. He told me he had invited Dan to join his law firm and the two of them were lobbying for Pro-Life organizations, saving the lives of America's Pre-Born babies. It came as no surprise to me, then, when Sam Alito hired Dan Coats to be his lobbyist when he made his bid to become a Supreme Court Justice. After all, Justice Alito is one of the most conservative Pro-Life voices on the United States Supreme Court.

You can imagine my dismay when some young Republican's began a smear campaign against Dan Coats by pretending it was somehow filthy to be a lobbyist. If they were my kids, I would wash their mouths out with soap! After all, these young kids today have no idea what it means to be principled men of honesty, integrity, and high moral character like Dan Coats. The way they are running their campaigns prove it. Maybe that's why Congressman Mike Pence, another man of high moral character, endorsed Dan Coats for U.S. Senate and not one of them.